My thoughts on the Phillies season.

Results tagged ‘ Geovany Soto ’

The Phillies’ bat appear to have decided to come out of hiding as they crush the Cubs, 12-5, as they give runs support to Pedro Martinez as he pitched his first game back in the major leagues. Their lead has now gone back up to four and a half games over both the Marlins and the Braves as the Marlins lose to the Astros.

The Phils jumped to a quick lead in the first as, with a runner on third, and with one man out, Chase Utley hits an RBI double, knocking in Shane Victorino, who had earlier tripled, giving the Phils a 1-0 lead. The Phils made it a 2-0 lead as Ryan Howard tripled home Utley. The Cubs would cut the lead in half in the second as, with one man on, and one out, Jeff Baker hits an RBI single, knocking in Kosuke Fukudome, who had earlier doubled, making it a 2-1 Phils lead. The Phils increased their lead in the third as, with a man on, and with nobody out, Victorino hits a two-run home run, his ninth home run of the year, knocking in Jimmy Rollins, who had just doubled, making it 4-1 Phils. The Phils then busted the game wide open in the fourth. With two men on, and with nobody out, Carlos Ruiz hits an RBI single, scoring Jayson Werth, who had earlier singled, and had moved up to second base on Pedro Feliz’s single, giving the Phils a 5-1 lead, while Feliz who go all the way to third on Cubs’ center fielder Fukudome’s throwing error, while Ruiz would move up to second base. Two batters later, after Phils’ starter Pedro Martinez had grounded out, 4-3, for the inning’s first out, Jimmy Rollins hits a three-run home run, his fifteenth home run of the season, knocking in both Feliz and Ruiz, while giving the Phils an 8-1 lead. Four batters later, with two men on base, and two men out, Raul Ibanez hits a three-run bomb of his own, his twenty-seventh home run of the year, knocking in Utley, who had earlier singled, and Howard, who had just walked, moving Utley to second, as the Phils took an 11-1 lead, while batting around. Two batters later, Feliz would make it a 12-1 Phils lead, as he hit an RBI single, knocking in Werth, who had just doubled. After Ruiz walked, moving Feliz up to second, the Cubs would finally get out of the inning as Martinez struck out swinging. The Cubs got a run back in the fifth as, with the bases loaded, via a single by Koyie Hill, a walk by Sean Marshall and a single by Ryan Theriot, and with nobody out, Milton Bradley hits an RBI single, scoring Hill, making it a 12-2 Phils’ lead, while Marshall and Theriot moved up to third and second respectively. Two batters later, with the bases still loaded and with one man out, Jake Fox hits a sacrifice fly, scoring Marshall, making it a 12-3 Phils’ lead, while also sending Theriot to third. On the play, Victorino, who caught the ball, had a cup of beer thrown at him from the stand by one of the Cubs fans. After the play, Victorino showed his displeasure by looking at the fan, who was quickly removed from the ballpark by security. I don’t know what that idiot was thinking, cause Fox would’ve been called out by the umpires for fan interference if Victorino had dropped the ball. Folks, I don’t want to hear any excuses, cause that guy was a moron, pure and simple!!!! In the ninth, with runners on the corners, and one man out, Aaron Miles hits into an RBI ground out, 3-unassisted, for the inning’s second out, scoring Sam Fuld, who had earlier singled, and had gone to third on Eric Bruntlett’s fielding error of a Hill ground ball, making it a 12-4 Phils’ lead, while Hill, who was safe on Bruntlett’s error, moved up to second base. The next batter, Theriot, then hits an RBI single, scoring Hill, cutting the Phils’ lead down to 12-5. But that would be it as pinch hitter Geovany Soto grounded out, 5-3, for the game’s final out.

Pedro Martinez got the win as he went five innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk, while striking out five in his first start in the majors since last September. His record is now 1-0 with a 5.40 ERA. Chan Ho Park pitched three scoreless innings, as he struck out three. Chad Durbin pitched an inning, giving up two runs, neither of which were earned, on two hits. Jeff Samardzija took the lost, as he pitched only three and a third innings, giving up seven runs on eight hits, as he struck out four. His record is now 1-2 with an ERA of 7.81. Sean Marshall pitched three and a third innings, giving up five runs on six hits and three walks, while striking out four. Aaron Heilman and Carlos Marmol combined for two and a third scorless innings, striking out a batter between them (Marmol).

The Phils exploded for fourteen hits, with each of the regulars having at least one hit. Chase Utley lead the team with three hits, including a double, knocking in a run, while scoring two, as he raised his average to .296. Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Jayson Werth and Pedro Feliz followed with two hits a piece, with Rollins’ hits being a double and a three-run homer, while Victorino’s two hits were a triple and a two-run home run and one of Werth’s two hits was a double. Ryan Howard, Raul Ibanez and Carlos Ruiz each had a hit, with Howard’s hit being a triple and Ibanez’s hit being a three-run home run. Besides the runs knocked in by Utley, Rollins, Victorino and Ibanez, Howard, Feliz and Ruiz each knocked in a run. The Phils had a total of eight extra-base hits in last night’s game (3 (2B), 2 (3B), 3 (HR)). Hopefully, this will mean that the offense has returned.

The Phils (63-48, 1st National League East) will conclude with an afternoon game against the Cubs (58-54, 2nd National League Central). The game is already in progress and is being played at Wrigley Field. The Phils’ starter is Cliff Lee (9-9 (2-0), 2.95 (1.13)), who is coming off a win against the Rockies on August 6, where he went seven innings, giving up only one run on six hits and a walk, as he struck out nine, in the Phils’ 3-1 win. He is trying to lead the Phils to a sweep over the Cubs. The Cubs will counter with Ryan Dempster (6-5, 4.04), who is coming off a win against the Rockies on August 8, where he went six innings, giving up just two runs on nine hits, while striking out two, in the Cubs’ 6-5 win. He will be trying to avoid the sweep. The Phils are presently leading the Cubs, 5-1, after six innings, trying to perform a sweep of the Cubbies, before going on to Atlanta to see if they can push the Braves back, as well as increase their lead in the NL East.

Update: Turns out security threw out the wrong person last night, as the moron who threw the beer let someone else take the rap for his misdeed. But, both the Cubs and Victorino have filed a complaint against the toad, while his face is getting plastered all over the place. Hopefully it’ll be only a matter of time before the Chicago boys in blue come knocking at his door.

The Phils are able to defeat the Cubs, 4-3, in spite of very little offense as they are only able to get three hits. Their lead over the Marlins remains three and a half games.

The Cubs took the lead in the third as, with two men on base, and with nobody out, James Fox hits an RBI single, scoring Milton Bradley, who had earlier doubled, giving the Cubs a 1-0 lead, while sending Derek Lee, who had earlier walked, to second base. Later, with the based loaded, thanks to a Geovany Soto walk, which sent Lee to third, and Fox to second, with still nobody out, Alfonso Soriano’s sacrfice fly made it a 2-0 Chicago lead, as Lee scored. The Phils would tie it up in the sixth, as with a man on, and with two men out, Jimmy Rollins hits a two-run home run, his fourteen home run of the year, as he knocked in Carlos Ruiz, who had earlier walked. Rollins’ home run broke up Rich Harden’s no-hit bid and shut out, while Ruiz’s walk ended Harden’s perfect game bid after Harden had gotten out the previous sixteen batters. The Phils would take the lead in the eighth, as, with the bases loaded, via a Ruiz walk, Shane Victorino being hit by the pitch, and Chase Utley being walked, with two men out, Ryan Howard took a four-pitch walk, forcing in Ruiz and giving the Phils a 3-2 lead. It looked like the Phils had made it a 4-2 ballgame in the top of the ninth, as Ruiz hits a 1-2 pitch towards the left field foul line, being called a home run by the third base umpire. But, that turned out to have been the wrong call, as the ball had actually landed several feet foul. A review by the crew overturned the wrong ruling (Which was the right thing to do, as the ball was indeed foul), before Ruiz would finally end the inning with a 6-3 ground out. The Cubs then tied the score up at three-all in their half of the ninth as, with a man on, and with one man out, Bradley hits an RBI single, scoring pinch hitter Kosuke Fukudome, who had earlier walked and had gone to second on Ryan Theriot’s sacrifice bunt, as Brad Lidge blew his league leading seventh save. In the bottom of the eleventh with, two men out, and with the count on him at 2-1, Bradley would hit a ball deep to center field, which he thought would be a home run. Sadly, for Bradley, it instead stayed in the park, and was caught by Victorino for the inning’s final out. In the twelfth, the Phils took the lead as Ben Francisco hits a lead-off home run, his twelfth home run of the year, and his second home run since being traded to the Phils, giving the Phils a 4-3 lead. That would be the final score as Chad Durbin, just back from the disabled list, put the Cubs down in their half of the twelfth, earning his second save of the season.

J.A. Happ got a no-decision, as he went six innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and four walks, as he struck out three. Chan Ho Park pitched a scoreless inning, giving up just a walk, while he struck out two. Ryan Madson recorded his eighteenth hold of the season as he pitched a scorless inning, giving up just a hit, while striking out two. Brad Lidge blew his league leading seventh save, as he pitched an inning, giving up a run on a hit and a walk, while he struck out one. Tyler Walker pitched two-thirds of an inning, giving up only a hit. Scott Eyre got the win as he pitched an inning and a third, striking out a batter. His record is now 2-1 with an ERA of 1.80. Chad Durbin recorded his second save, as he pitched a scoreless inning, giving up only a walk, as he struck out a batter. Rich Harden also received a no-decision, as he pitched seven strong innings, giving up only two runs on two hits and two walks, as he struck out six. Carlos Marmol pitched two-thirds of an inning, giving up a run on no hits, three walks and a hit batter. John Grabow pitched a third of an inning, striking out a batter. Angel Guzman pitched two scoreless innings. Kevin Gregg took the loss, pitching two innings, giving up a run on one hit, while he struck out two. His record is now 4-4 with an ERA of 4.02.

The Phils had only three hits in the game, a two-run home run by Jimmy Rollins, a single by Ryan Howard, and a solo home run by Ben Francisco, bringing in the game winner. Howard had the fourth Phil RBI via a bases loaded walk. The Phils offense is still not doing anything, as they were only able to bring in one runner in scoring position, mainly because they were not able to get people on base last night.

The Phils (62-48, 1st National League East) continue their three-games series with the Cubs (58-53, 2nd National League Central) with a night game. The game will be played at Wrigley Field and will begin at 8:05 pm Eastern (7:05 pm Central). The Phils will send to the mound Pedro Martinez (0-0, -.–), who is making his first start since last September. He will be trying to prove to the Phils that he is worth the money that they are presently paying him. He will be opposed by Jeff Samardzija (1-1, 6.29), who is making his first start for the Cubs. He has previously pitched in relief, with his last appearance being on August 7 against the Rockies, where he pitched four innings, giving up two runs on five hits and a walk, while he struck out one, in the Cubs’ 6-2 lost. He will see if he can do better than he did when he pitched in relief and gave up the winning home run to Jayson Werth in extra-innings. The Phils will be trying to make it two wins in a row, while trying to get the offense jump started.

Behind the pitching of Jamie Moyer, Chad Durbin and Brad Lidge, and the Phillies’ offense, the Phillies would be able to leave Chicago with a split, 5-3. The Phillies would take the lead in the first inning as they went to work on Cubs’ starter Sean Marshall, who was pitching in place of the original starter, Carlos Zambrano, who would claim that he has a ‘dead’ arm. With a runner on second and two outs, Ryan Howard would hit a RBI single, scoring Chase Utley, who has gotten on base earlier with a walk, and then stole second, to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead. Two batters latter, Jayson Werth would hit a two-run double, scoring Howard, who has gone to second on Shane Victorino’s single, and Victorino, who has singled, to make it 3-0 Phillies. The Cubs would cut the Phillies’ lead in the second, when, with runners on the corners and one man out, Ronny Cedeno would hit a RBI single, scoring Mark DeRosa, who has earlier singled, would go to second on Geovany Soto’s single and then went to third on Kosuke Fukudome’s force out that would wipe out Soto at second, to make it 3-1 Phillies, while Fukudome would move over to second. The ball should’ve been caught by Victorino in left center field for the inning’s second out, but because there were no clouds overhead, Victorino would have a hard time trying to see the ball, before it would finally bounce off of his right thigh towards Pat Burrell, who would in turn be unable to catch it, as it dropped in for the RBI single. Marshall would then follow with an RBI single of his own, getting it past Utley, who has headed towards first because Marshall made it look like that he was going to put down a sacrifice bunt, scoring Fukudome, and sending Cedeno to second, making it 3-2 Phillies. Phillies’ starter Jamie Moyer would finally end the threat by getting both Alfonso Soriano and Reed Johnson to fly out. The Phillies would add to their lead in the fifth, as, with two men out, Werth would hit his twenty-first home run of the year to give the Phillies a 4-2 lead. The Phils would add their final run in the sixth, as, with a runner on third and one out, Jimmy Rollins would hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Carlos Ruiz, who has earlier reached base with a double and then went to third on Moyer’s sacrifice bunt, making it 5-2 Phils. The Cubs would threaten to rally in their half of the sixth as they put runners on first (Cedeno-walk) and second (Fukudome-single), with one out. Charlie Manuel would take out Moyer and replace him with Chad Durbin. Durbin would then proceed to get out of the inning by first striking out pinch hitter Ryan Theriot and then getting Soriano to pop out to second. In the eighth, after getting the inning’s first out, Durbin would give up a single to Soto. Manuel would come out and replace Durbin with the previous day’s hero, J.C. Romero. Romero would throw a wild pitch that would send Soto over to second. He would then get Fukudome to ground out, second to first, for the inning’s second out, while Soto would go on to third. Pinch hitter Henry Blanco would then get a pinch single, scoring Soto, cutting the Phillies’ lead to 5-3. Manuel would then come out again and replace Romero with Ryan Madson. Madson would then give up a pinch single to pinch hitter Daryle Ward to put runners on first and second. After Ward is replaced on first by pinch runner Mike Fontenot, Madson would end the inning by striking out Soriano. Brad Lidge would then come in to pitch the ninth, and would records his thirty-third save by pitching a 1-2-3 inning.

Jamie Moyer would get the win as he pitches five and a third innings, giving up only two earned runs on eight hits. His record is now 12-7 with a 3.80 ERA. Chad Durbin would pitch two innings, giving up an earned run on one hit. J.C. Romero and Ryan Madson would each pitch a third of an inning, giving up one hit each. Brad Lidge would pitch a scoreless ninth inning as he recorded his thirty-third save in thirty-three tries. Sean Marshall would get the lost as he pitches five and a third innings, giving up five earned runs on nine hits. His record is now 3-4 with a 4.03 ERA. Jeff Samardzija, Bob Howry and Neal Cotts would combine for three scoreless innings, giving up three hits (Howry (1) and Cott (2)).

The Phillies’ offense would this time score enough runs to win, as they split the four games series and win the season series with the Cubs, while getting twelve hits that would this time be more evenly spread around among the starting eight, with only Pedro Feliz getting the collar. Ryan Howard would lead the offense with three hits, two singles and a double, knocking in a run, while scoring one run. Shane Victornio, Chase Utley and Jayson Werth would follow with two hits each, each scoring a run, while Werth would knock in three of the Phillies’ other runs. Chad Durbin, J.C. Romero and Ryan Madson would all combine to get the Phillies through the eighth inning this time, giving up only one run to the Cubs before Brad Lidge would come in to shut the Cubs down in the ninth.

The Phillies (75-62) will now go on to Washington to start a three games series with the presently hot Nationals (52-85). The game will be played in Nationals Park and will begin at 3:05 pm Eastern. The Phillies’ starter will be Kyle Kendrick (11-7, 4.83), who is coming off a no-decision against the Mets on August 27, where he went five plus innings, giving up two earned runs on eight hits, in the Phillies’ 6-3 lost. Lifetime against the Nationals, he is 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA in four starts. He will be trying once again for his twelfth win, while seeing if he can cool down the presently hot Nationals. The Nationals will counter with Tim Redding (9-8, 4.54), who is coming off a win against the Dodgers on August 27, where he went six innings, giving up only three earned runs on eight hits, in the Nats’ 5-4 win. He will be trying for his tenth win while seeing if he can defeat the Phillies once again this season.

The Phillies are still a game behind the Mets and five games ahead of the Mets as the Mets defeated the fish. The Phillies will be seeing if they can win the series in Washington and tie for the divisional lead in the East before their weekend series with the Mets in their last trip to Shea Stadium.

The Phillies finally get past the eighth inning as J.C. Romero comes in and squashed a Cubs’ rally with three strikeouts, while Myers would pitch another seven strong innings as the Phillies defeated the Cubs, 5-2. The Cubs would score the game’s first run, as, with two men on and one out, Geovany Soto would hit a RBI single, scoring Mark DeRosa, who has earlier singled and then went to second on Kosuke Fukudome’s single, to give the Cubs a quick 1-0 lead, while sending Fukudome to third. Phillies’ starter Brett Myers would then get out of the inning by striking out Cubs’ starter Ted Lilly and then getting Alfonso Soriano to fly out. The game would then become a pitchers’ duel in the third and fourth innings, with Lilly breezing through the Phillies’ line-up, while Myers would get out of trouble in both the third (two on, one out-double play) and the fourth (two on, two out-ground out). Then in the top of the fifth, Jayson Werth, with one swing of the bat, would tie the ballgame with a solo home run, his nineteenth home run of the year. Then in the sixth, after the Phillies have loaded up the bases via two singles (Chase Utley and Ryan Howard) and a hit batter (Shane Victorino), with two men out, Werth would give the Phillies a 3-1 lead with a two-run single, scoring Utley, who has gone to third on Ryan’s single, and Howard, who has gone to second when Victorino was hit by the pitch, with a slide that would keep him from being tagged by Cubs’ catcher Soto. In the eighth, the Phillies would increase their lead as Howard hit a solo home run to deep center field, for his thirty-seventh home run of the year, making it 4-1 Phillies. Two batters later, Werth would hit his second solo home run of the game, his twentieth home run of the year, to give the Phillies a 5-1 lead. Which was a good thing, as the Cubs would try to come back in their half of the inning. Ryan Theriot, Derrick Lee and Aramis Ramirez would each single, with Ramirez scoring Theriot, who has gone to third on Lee’s single, making it a 5-2 Phillies’ lead, while sending Lee to second. That would be it for Myers, as Charlie Manuel would come out of the dugout and replace Myers with J.C. Romero. With two men on and no one out, Romero would proceed to strike out first pinch hitter Reed Johnson, and then pinch hitter Ronny Cedeno, using their youthful aggressiveness against them as they would both strike out swinging. The next batter, Fukudome, would then get a four-pitch walk to load up the bases. After being calmed down by Rich Dubee, since he didn’t get a called strike on what would be ball number three, Romero would then bear down and strike out Soto looking to finally end the inning. Romero would then leave the mound, all enthusiastic. Hey, Charlie, I think you’d just found your eighth inning bridge to Brad Lidge. Speaking of Lidge, he would pitch a 1-2-3 ninth, recording his thirty-second save of the year.

Brett Myers would get the win as he pitches another seven strong innings, plus three batters, as he gives up only two earned runs on eleven hits, while striking out eight. His record is now 8-10, 5-1 since coming back from the minors, with a 4.40 ERA. J.C. Romero would pitch a scoreless inning, striking out three and walking one batter. Brad Lidge would also pitch a scoreless inning, as he records his thirty-second save in thirty-two tries, as he struck out two. Ted Lilly would take the lost as he goes six and two-thirds innings, giving up three earned runs on six hits. His record is now 13-8 with an ERA of 4.23. Neal Cotts would pitch an inning and a third, giving up two earned runs on two hits. Bob Howry would pitch a scoreless inning, giving up two hits.

The Phillies’ bullpen would finally get past the eighth inning as J.C. Romero would come into the game, and strike out three of the four batters that he would face, getting two of them out by having the hitters swinging at strike three while the third batter would stand at the plate for a called third strike, and showing some enthusiasm after doing it. Myers would pitch himself out of trouble in the first four innings before getting three straight 1-2-3 innings, as he gives up only singles to the Cubbies. Meanwhile, the offense would get another ten hits, although they would not be as evenly spread out as they have been earlier in the week. Jayson Werth would lead the attack, going three for four, with two home runs and a single, knocking in four of the Phillies’ runs. Jimmy Rollins would follow with four hits, three singles and a double, along with a stolen base. Chase Utley and Ryan Howard would both follow with two hits apiece, three singles and a home run (for Howard), as they would score the other three Phillies’ run (Utley (1), Howard (2)). Now if they can just leave Chicago Sunday with a series split.

The Phillies (74-62) will conclude their four games series with the Cubs (85-51, 1st National League Central) this afternoon. The game will be played at Wrigley Field and will begin at 2:20 pm Eastern (1:20 pm Central). The Phillies will send to the mound the veteran pitcher Jamie Moyer (11-7, 3.81), who is coming off a recent bad outing against the Mets on August 26, as he is only able to go three innings, as he gets creamed for six earned runs on nine hits, in the Phillies’ dramatic 8-7 win. He will be trying for his fifteenth good start in his last sixteen starts while trying for his twelfth win of the year. The Cubs’ stater will be Carlos Zambrano (13-5, 3.53), who is coming off a no-decision against the Pirates on August 26, as he would pitch only four and a third innings, giving up six earned runs on eight hits, in the Cubs’ 14-9 win. He will be trying to get his fourteenth win while trying to stop the Phillies’ offense.

The Phillies are now trailing the Mets by a game while they are five games ahead of the Marlins, as the fish defeated the Mets last night. The Phillies will be trying to leave Chicago with a series split while hoping that they will be heading to Washington to meet the Nationals, tied for first place.

Meta

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.